Why I Think Cats Are Smart
I used to pretty well dismiss cats as
useless, but my experiences over the past few years with an old grey tabby named Smokey have
pretty well convinced me that cats can be pretty smart creatures. One way Smokey has made a
believer out of me is that he seems to be brainy enough to talk. I may not understand exactly
what he's saying, but every time he jumps up on my desk while I am grading papers, plants his
forepaws on the paper I am currently marking, stares me in the face and begins to mutter in a
mixture of meows and purrs -- when that happens, I am pretty sure he earnestly wishes to tell me
something he thinks is important, and it surely sounds like talking to me. Even more impressive
than his babbling and grumbling in cat language is what I call "the Great Garage Door Opener
Caper." Smokey has taught himself to use the garage door opener buttons on the wall of my
garage. He has watched me use the opener, and he has figured out how to climb up on a table
and then onto the old microwave oven sitting on that table so that he can reach the buttons and
attempt to push these buttons that would open the garage door. Fortunately, he is not heavy
enough to push the buttons hard enough to make the door open, but there is no doubt that he
understands how the buttons work. What with trying to talk and trying to use the garage door
opener, Old Smokey has pretty well convinced me that cats are sometimes a whole lot smarter
than I used to think they were.
